by Mark Silva
She is more popular than the president.
Yet, First Lady Michelle Obama maintains, she is not as "interesting'' as all the attention to her every move - the gardening,her wardrobe and all the rest - might suggest.
"I don't think I'm that interesting,'' she said in an interview aired on the Today show this morning. "I don't think my husband is all that interesting,'' she added with a laugh.
At a time when the president's own approval rating has slipped, however, and at a time when the president himself is calling on fellow Democrats to get out of "the echo chamber'' of the Capitol and its media and talk to real people morem, as he did today, the first lady said something today that was eerily reminiscent of what the Obamas' predecessors said when criticism for President George W. Bush was piling up.
"I don't want to seem unrealistically optimistic,'' she said, "but our experiences on the ground are outstanding - when we go out and meet people, folks are gracious... They are enthusiastic, they want the president to succeed... That's what we feel.''
It's all in the invitations to the events, perhaps.
"Every first lady... has brought something very different to the task,'' Michelle Obama said in the interview aired today. "That's sort of the beauty of all this. We don't have a job description... I just want to be helpful..
Her public approval rating, at 70 percent, is the highest for first ladies at this stage of a modern presidency, NBC's Matt Lauer noted, which is a good deal stronger than her husband's.
"Americans are frustrated, and the person in charge is the one they look to,'' she said of the criticism that the president is fielding. "We're all working - we have to continue to work on disagreeing without being disagreeable... Barack warned us about this during the campaign,'' she said. "It's true, and we're sort of feeling the pain of that, and it's a natural reaction.''
If he were to hold a 16-month old picture of her husband up today, Lauer told the first lady, she would see how much he has aged in office - how gray the president has gotten, for instance. Has she seen that?
"No, because I see him every day,'' she said. "You see your kids every day, you don't notice that they've grown two inches until you stand up next to them... The gray issue is interesting. His mother and his grandfather were all gray, so he was going that way anyway.''
"The truth is that this job it's hard. It's hard for everyone who sits in the office,'' she said, and only families see how hard it is first-hand.
None of this new life has changed her personally, the first lady maintained. "I've got this husband who does these interesting things,'' she said - allowing finally that maybe he is "interesting,'' after all - "and I'm Malia and Sasha's mother.
Comments
CUE THE RIGHT WING MICHELLE OBAMA HATERS (Bobby Mobbie) IN:
5..4...3...2..1...DING DING DING!!!
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Posted by: I wanna be a Republican idiot | February 3, 2010 3:10 PM
Posted by: I wanna be a Republican idiot | February 3, 2010 3:10 PM
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Why would conservatives or Republican’s disagree with the article or Michelle Obama’s statements? We can agree with her that she is uninteresting without insulting her. Most people are uninteresting. She does her job and stays in the background where most good people do their best work. Where is the controversy?
Posted by: You’re an Idiot Without Joining the Republican Party | February 3, 2010 6:08 PM
yes we like out woman in the background ...do their work and keep quite. Now Palin is a different story...she didn't do her job...and she won't shut up. Hey ur an idiot...did you get the tickets for your $550 ticket for those grassroots event to hear her speak. Remember...you can buy a lot of tea for $550.
Posted by: bill r. | February 3, 2010 7:21 PM
She's insulting my intelligence by pretending she has no power, no authority and no agenda. If she's just Malia and Sasha's mother -- and she seems to be doing a fine job at that task -- then what the heck does she need a staff of 22, a probably multi-million dollar budget and an agenda?
Please. Give me a break. The false modesty is idiotic.
Posted by: beth | February 3, 2010 7:35 PM
"I don't think I'm that interesting,'' she said in an interview aired on the Today show this morning. "I don't think my husband is all that interesting,'' she added with a laugh.
Right on the first quote; she's a typical radical leftist that doesn't understand and doesn't like America.
Obama IS interesting because he is destroying the country.
Posted by: Free to Watch Whatever I Want | February 3, 2010 8:38 PM
bill r.
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If anyone here is an idiot, it is YOU. I didn’t say we needed to have our women working quietly in the background. I said that most good people do their best work in the background. That includes both men and women. Only you, of all people, managed to twist it into a sexist statement because of your warped mind. Go ask your school teacher wife to teach you to read.
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And just to set you straight: I don’t give a rat’s ass about Sarah Palin, and wouldn’t give a plug nickel to see her speak. I don’t know from the “R” word, but politics would get a lot smarter if she took an exit, stage left. You have to quit following Obama’s marching orders. Get a brain of your own and stop pigeonholing people based on your own dark prejudices.
Posted by: You’re an Idiot Without Joining the Republican Party | February 3, 2010 8:43 PM
Humility and modesty.
Mother Teresa exhibited those qualities notably.
Worked out pretty well for her.
Michelle has to run the social side of the White House. Her staff is no larger than any of her predecessors.
She is handling the job just right.
Plus, she's pretty glamorous.
In a nice way.
Posted by: ornery | February 3, 2010 10:24 PM
If anyone here is an idiot, it is YOU.
And just to set you straight:
Posted by: You’re an Idiot Without Joining the Republican Party | February 3, 2010 8:43 PM
Well you must have been on the swamp long enough for me to piss you off........so....are you posting under some fictitious name, cause I don't remember seeing it before. That's the trouble with the whole bogus handle thing. Seems a way to cover tracks from past statements. I guess the second thing would be...If you don't like the word idiot, don't use it in your name. That way one won't have to use it in a reply. My guess? Crooks........man up..stick to one name...
Posted by: bill r. | February 3, 2010 10:56 PM